Trader wrote:At this risk of being labelled "our Jim" again, here goes:
The three being mentioned to come in over the three going out are probably slightly better, that is fair.
However, the concern I have is the three going, when brought in, were kids, that possibly could have turned out to be ok AFL footballers. That didn't happen.
Where as the three coming in, while probably better than the three going out, the in's have already confirmed they aren't good footballers. They are simply list cloggers.
I'd much rather we pick up three 18 year olds that have 'potential' than three blokes who we know will be ranked between 25 and 40 on the list.
Comparing new ins to failed footballers doesn't win you flags.
Thanks Jim.
Our development of latter picks in the draft have failed ( Williams 23, Jackson 55 ) and the arrival of Collins is an important addition to a department that hasn't been able to deliver on that front but in many ways that's because we've been able to bring in or select top end talent at the draft through smart recruiting.
If we looked at this/next year as doing the same thing and expecting a different result then this can only be a good move. The three ( of many ) mentioned that are departing have had their go and it's time to move on. We don't have a draft hand this year with next year and the year after important to us so we'll take some risks with recruits and train ons over summer.
For once we're doing exactly that, changing and taking risks and given the last several seasons I don't think too many Port fans will see that as a bad thing.
Ramm (18), Lai (SSP 19) and Mackinlay (22) have been added to the list for nothing. There's your three.

If you want to go quickly, go alone.
If you want to go far, go together.